SW News: A report released on Wednesday showed that the United Nations has recorded over 1,600 incidents of rights violations against people detained by the Taliban authorities. Nearly half of these acts of torture and ill-treatment are mostly by police and intelligence agents.

According to the UN Mission in Afghanistan also known as UNAMA, 18 people also died in police custody over 19 months ending in July 2023. The Taliban have staffed and run both the police and the intelligence service since taking over the nation as foreign forces left in 2021

"In attempts to extract confessions or other information, detainees were subjected to severe pain and suffering, through physical beatings, electric shocks, asphyxiation, stress, forced ingestion of water, as well as blind-folding and threats," UNAMA said in a statement.

Other violations included not being informed of the reason for arrest, not being able to access a lawyer, and inadequate medical care in custody. Around one in ten of the violations were against women. Journalists and civil society members accounted for nearly a quarter of the victims of the violations.

In response, the Taliban-led Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the number of reported violations was not accurate, especially the number of journalists and advocates affected.

According to the ministry, efforts are being made to strengthen oversight and ensure adherence to the supreme leader's directives that forbid torture and confession-forcing.

The United Nations called the decrees and granting access to the prisoners "encouraging signs" but urged further steps to improve the situation.

The Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan and the head of UNAMA, Roza Otunbayeva, said that these documented cases highlight the need for urgent, accelerated action by all. “To put an end to these practices, there is a compelling need to take into account greater involvement with the de facto authorities,” Roza said.